Important dates

CfP opens: January, 2026
CfP closes: May 1, 2026
CfP notifications: May 2 - May 15, 2026
Schedule and registration: May 16 - July 31, 2026
Event dates: October 1-4, 2026

General information

The event will be held at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Prishtina in Kosovo. We expect all speakers to present in person at the venue. All talks, presentations, and workshops will be conducted in English.
Please note that we try to cover all speaker expenses, including accommodation and travel.
There is no admission or ticket fee for SFK 2026, but all attendees and speakers must complete a free registration to attend.

Session types

• Talk: A presentation, usually with slides and demos. It should be bite-sized and focused on a certain topic. This means that you should not expect to be able to cover multiple broad areas in one talk. The default talk slot is 30 minutes (we recommend 20-minute talk and 10-minute Q&A).
• Lightning talk: A short presentation focused on getting people interested in something new. The goal of the lightning talk is to convey key information in a clear and concise manner. Smaller technical topics, project introductions, and research/thesis topic introductions are great ideas for lightning talks. The default lightning talk slot is 10 minutes.
• Workshop: A hands-on demo where you interact with the audience to share your knowledge and experience on a particular bite-sized topic. The goal of a workshop is to teach or practice a skill. As a result, workshops should be actionable and goal-oriented. The default workshop slot is 2 hours.
• Meetup: An in-person meeting open to everyone to discuss the latest project developments and interaction with contributors and attendees. The default meetup slot is 2 hours.
  Booth: A staffed table for conversations about the project and interaction with contributors, users, and attendees. Preference is given to booths that run all three days, the minimum number of days to be considered is two days. All booths are technology-focused and we accept any financial sponsorships for having a booth at a SFK event.

Submission limit

To ensure high-quality proposals and efficiently streamline the review process for our CfP Review Committee, each individual is limited to submitting up to two proposals in total. This limit includes all submission types (talks, lightning talks, workshops, and meetups). If you are listed as a co-speaker on any submission, it will count toward your individual limit.

Two-speaker limit

To ensure a high-quality schedule featuring a broad range of topics and speakers, we are setting a limit of two speakers per submission. This limit includes all submission types (talks, lightning talks, workshops, meetups). For booths, you can only submit up to two contact people in your proposal. However, it is allowed and expected that there is a larger number of staff onsite. Exceptions may be considered for panel discussions or other collaborative formats. If you require more than two speakers, please provide the reason in the "Notes" section of your proposal.

While developing your proposal, consider the following:

• All material should be presented in English
• You can submit more than one proposal
• You can edit your proposal(s) after submission (until the CfP Closes)
• Submissions don't need to include completed slides
• Make sure the submission is relevant to the SFK 2026 audience:

1. Is the content original, or is the way the content is presented original? Avoid overview sessions. Focus on technical, community project-oriented content. Talks with a lot of audience interactions and demos are encouraged.
2. If the session focuses on a product, is it about technical aspects? Avoid all marketing and sales presentations; product pitches are received poorly.
3. Does the talk cover new/planned work and ideas, or does it review previous work? New and upcoming work generally increases the chance of acceptance. We'd like to see emerging topics that might hit engineering in 1-2 years.

• Before hitting enter, ask yourself:

1. Does the content match the level of difficulty and the duration?
2. If you were to attend your talk, would you feel excited?
3. Why should people attend your talk instead of another session?
4. What would the audience gain from your talk?
   

How are decisions made during the CfP review process?

Each track has a review committee of 3 - 5 members who are subject-matter experts. The process consists of multiple phases to ensure fair and thorough evaluation:

• Blind Review: Reviewers assess anonymized proposals based solely on content.
• Full-view Review: Speaker details are revealed to ensure diversity and track balance.
• Captain Review: Track captains prioritize talks, ensuring a mix of topics and experience levels.
• Final Selection: The CfP Committee makes final decisions, prioritizing sessions across all tracks holistically, and prepares speaker notifications.

Decisions are based on content quality, alignment with track themes, diversity in difficulty levels, and speaker experience. Since DevConf events are organized globally, we prioritize speakers from the same region as the event. For SFK 2026, which includes Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

During the review process, track captains may move your session to another track without prior notification. They can also contact you and suggest changing the session format, combining talks, or identifying potential keynotes.

The acceptance rate for talks is around 25%, with a limit of one 30-minutes talk per speaker. However, speakers may have other session formats accepted, and in some cases, we may fill last-minute gaps with additional talks from speakers who are already present.

Visa invitation letters

If you require a visa to enter Kosovo, we can provide a visa invitation letter to accepted speakers and registered attendees. Please fill out the form to request a visa invitation letter. If you need the visa invitation letter before our acceptance letters are sent out or before registration opens, specify the reason in the ‘Additional Information’ section of the form.